


don't leave me

by bywheelers (inavertently)



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-10
Updated: 2017-12-10
Packaged: 2019-02-13 02:14:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12973494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inavertently/pseuds/bywheelers
Summary: It had initially been Max’s idea to go swimming at the quarry, August making it’s way in Hawkins and the temperatures rising to the point that it was too hot to go do something outside, leaving everyone sweating through their clothes and dampening their moods.





	don't leave me

**Author's Note:**

> I got this request on my [tumblr](http://bywheelers.tumblr.com):
> 
> can i get uhhhhhhh- Byeler and gang go swimming at that quarry. Will kinda drowns cause he doesn't know how to swim, but didn't wanna ruin anyones fun cause of how happy they looked. Mike acts like he did on Halloween night and is all like "I got him!" Then gives the smol bean mouth to mouth, to get him breathing again of course. Not because Mike wants to actually put his lips on another boys *nervous laughter* And afterwords they/Mike scold him for doing something so stupid. Then hug cause <3
> 
> Which I planned on being a small drabble, but apparently it just wasn't meant to be and I ended up writing a full story.

It had initially been Max’s idea to go swimming at the quarry, August making it’s way in Hawkins and the temperatures rising to the point that it was too hot to go do something outside, leaving everyone sweating through their clothes and dampening their moods. 

At first, everyone else, sans Will, had been a little skeptical about going to that quarry, seeing as they had seen Will’s, albeit fake, body being taken out from the water and the memory still left them with a bad taste in their mouths. But it didn’t take long for Max to convince them and it was on. 

Will had stayed quiet throughout the whole talk, not knowing how to bring out the fact that he did, in fact, not know how to swim, as he has never had the chance to practice and actually learn. By the time he had wanted to protest against the idea, everyone was on board with it, clearly looking forward to spending their day in the water and refreshing themselves. So Will didn’t say anything at all, let them make the plans and adjust the day and time, resolving to just coming up with a plan and not let them know about his problem. He didn’t want to ruin their fun. 

Without much preamble, the day they all had agreed on had come. Having decided that there was no point in meeting up someplace else just so they could go together, everyone made their way directly to the quarry, making that their meeting place. 

Will and Eleven arrived at the same time, as they were family now and living together. It had been a year since his mother and Hopper had started going out together, and a few months since they all had been living together. So that made El his sister now, which he absolutely loved, because he and El had gotten along like a house on fire from the very first moment they were officially introduced to one another. 

They were the last one to arrive, the other boys and Max having been there for a few minutes already, waiting for the two of them so they could go all together inside the water. In a matter of seconds everyone was in their swimming clothes, anticipation clear in each of their faces, except Will’s, who was beginning to panic slightly inside. He waited until everyone had started to run off, clearly intending to jump into the quarry, before he took off at a slightly slower pace, and made his way inside with trembling legs. 

Steadily, everyone slipped their heads out of the water, laughing and having fun. He observed Dustin give a battle cry before he went around splashing the others. Lucas did not take kindly to this and moved closer to Dustin, his intention clear as day. It didn’t take them long to get into a fight, and they started wrestling each other, both attempting to get the other fully inside the water but not succeeding much in their quest. 

Mike was laughing hard at their antics, encouraging either of them, not truly taking sides, while Max and El were off to one side, whispering to each other. He saw them smirking lightly, glancing suspiciously at the boys, before looking at each other again. Will, who hadn’t gone far from where he entered, staying someplace where he could feel his feet touch the ground, feared for whatever the girls were planning. As off into his thoughts as he was he didn’t notice Mike creeping up on him. When Mike’s hand made contact with his shoulder, Will jumped, his nerves making him edgier than usual. 

“Are you alright, Will?” Mike asked, his brows furrowing. 

“Uh? Oh, yeah, I’m fine.” Mike still didn’t look convinced, so Will tried his best to calm down, before he spoke up again. “I’m okay, really.” This time his voice was steady, and he looked more determined than before, so Mike nodded and let it slip. 

“C’mon, let’s go farther in, see if Lucas and Dustin have stopped being idiots.” 

Will’s anxiety shot up again when Mike finished talking, not sure how to tell him that he couldn’t move from where he was or he was risking some very bad consequences. He opened his mouth, willing for his brain to come up with any kind of excuse, try to appease Mike without letting him know about his predicament, but nothing really came out. Will noted Mike’s confused gaze, which was beginning to form into another frown, and Will was getting more and more desperate. 

He opened his mouth again, this time determined to tell Mike something conniving but before he could let anything slip past his lips, he found himself being pulled. He looked to the side, recognising El who was pulling on his hand, moving him forward, deeper and deeper inside the water, and before Will knew it, his feet were not touching the ground anymore. His panic increased, “El, wait a moment!”, he tried to say, but it came out more jumbled, his words not stringing correctly. He fumbled around, flailing his arms and managing to let go of El’s hand, which didn’t help him at all. 

He managed to stay with his head out of the water, just barely, before he noticed something grabbing his ankle and tug him inside the water. Before he could scream, or do anything much at all, he was sinking. 

Belatedly, he guessed this was what Max and El had been planing, to lure them somewhere deeper, and then have one of them pull the other inside the water. It would have been a pretty fun idea, if Will was honest, but seeing as he was kind of drowning in the moment, he felt anything but fun. 

He flailed around some more, trying to go back up, moving his arms how he’s seen people do before but it was not working, he was sinking further. The surface was getting farther away, and he could see the others’ feet swaying lightly, staying afloat. Will tried to scream, but he only managed to get more water inside his body, choking him, burning his throat and nose. He sluggishly moved his hands up, clawing at his neck, feeling the burn increase and his eyesight blacking out. 

Before he lost complete consciousness, Will could swear someone was swimming towards him. He saw a panicked face, an arm that extended in his direction and Will moved his own hand in front of him slowly, before letting the darkness take over him. 

When he came back into himself, he was coughing up harshly. He was hurting terribly, his senses intensified and he turned to one side to cough up the remaining water inside his mouth. Once everything was out, he breathed in deeply, feeling his lungs expand in his chest, clearing the dizziness and the black spots behind his eyelids. 

He looked up from his position, the worried gazes of five other people locking into him. Mike was the one closest to him, kneeling on the floor right next to Will’s body, while the others were standing up behind him, all looking concerned. Will frowned and asked, “What happened?” to which he received some very mixed reactions. 

Max and El were the ones to approach him first, their relief as plain as day in their faces. They shared a glance, before El spoke up. “We’re so sorry Will. We shouldn’t have played that prank on you.” Max nodded, taking one of Will’s hand in hers. “We were so worried for you, you know?” 

Dustin was the third one to get closer, plopping down on the floor next to Will and bringing him in a side hug. “You should have told us you couldn’t swim buddy.” And before Will could say anything he noticed Lucas on his other side, also having knelt down so he could give Will a brief hug. “Dustin’s right. We were losing our damn minds when you didn’t come out.” He looked up for a brief moment, glancing past Will’s head, before looking back at the close unit they had become. 

Will sighed, feeling like a jerk for not only having lied to them but for also having made them worried. He looked down at his lap. “I’m sorry guys. I just didn’t want to ruin your fun, and I thought I could handle it, but apparently not.” He smiled sadly, bringing eyes up and looking at Max and El, “Also, you two don’t need to apologise. It was my own fault anyway for not having said anything so,” he didn’t get to finish his sentence because suddenly he was enveloped in an embrace. The girls had lunged at him, hugging him fiercely and before long Dustin and Lucas joined in, wrapping their arms around them. Will couldn’t help but tear up a bit, his emotions having reached an overwhelming limit. He was still a little frightened, from his drowning experience, but he also felt loved, the warmth of his friends clinging to him and making him exceptionally moved. 

The intense feeling had him chuckling slightly, aware that he was probably sounding a little insane, but the others joined him as well, and Will didn’t care anymore. 

“Just never do that to us again”, muttered Lucas, everyone agreeing, before El piped up, “Promise us.” Will nodded, leaning some more on them, and whispered, “I promise.” 

It didn’t take long for everyone to disentangle after, Max giving him a hand to get up from the floor, and Dusting keeping a hand on his back to steady him. 

It’s then that Will notices something missing, or rather, someone. He looks around confused, replying the last few moments in his head and becoming aware of the fact that Mike hadn’t been with them, still wasn’t. He frowned, remembering clearly having seen him kneeling next to Will. 

The others probably noticed his strange behaviour because they, too, looked around and seeing that Mike was not there anymore understanding dawned on them and they sighed. Will didn’t really get it, and before he could ask them what was wrong, Lucas explained what happened to him. 

“You should probably go look for Mike, out of us he was the most worried one, you know.”

Dustin nodded, and continued, “He was the one who noticed you weren’t coming up, and the one who went for you in the water. He was out of his mind really.”

Lucas finished from where Dustin left out. 

“He completely freaked out, and you should have seen him lecture Max and El because they pranked you,” both girls grimaced at this, “it was chaos, really. He’s also the one who gave you CPR” and Dustin cut him off then, taking over again, “I mean, he didn’t even let anyone else even approach you, he just kept saying ‘I got him’ and moving away from our general direction.” 

They all nodded, and Will went pale, “Shit” being the only thing that escaped his mouth before he was off, starting to search for Mike and finding him not far away from the quarry, in a secluded area, sitting by himself on a huge branch that had probably fallen from one of the trees. 

He approached Mike cautiously, not wanting to scare him, sitting down next to him when Mike didn’t say anything. Will took it as a good sign that Mike didn’t flinch away from him, though it was kind of worrying that he still wasn’t saying anything, just sitting there, hunched in himself, looking smaller than Will had ever seen him, a deep frown marrying his face. 

“Mike…” Will whispered, unwilling to speak louder and disturb the calm that had settled between them. Mike still didn’t move, but Will saw something flash in his eyes, going away too quickly for Will to identify what emotion it was. 

“I thought you were dead”, is all Mike said, and Will’s heart hurt because he was the one at fault, the one who pushed Mike to this point. He wanted to tell Mike this, tell him _It was my fault Mike, please don’t be sad_ or _I’m okay, Mike, see? Nothing happened to me, thanks to you, please forgive me_ but he didn’t get a chance. 

Mike got up, he started to pace up in front of Will, his frown still present on his face, deeper than before. He stopped for a moment, brought his hands up to cradle his own head, Will heard more than he saw Mike starting to sob, his form shaking slightly. He was back to pacing before long, “I just… I really thought you died…. I had you in my arms but you weren’t moving, and I kept remembering when you disappeared and they found the fake body, and” Mike choked up then, stoping his rant, before he breathed in harshly, and started speaking again, his voice getting louder and harsher, “I thought I lost you! AGAIN! And…. And…” He paused again, regaining his breathing, and in a small voice, he whispered, “I don’t want to lose you.” 

Will broke down then, tears falling heavily down his cheeks. He also stood up, marched right up to Mike and brought the other boy in a fierce hug. He slipped his arms around Mike’s torso, bringing the other boy close to him and buried his face in Mike’s chest. 

Mike also wrapped his arms around Will, clutching tightly onto him. He rested his head on Will’s hair, a sigh of relief escaping his lips, reassuring himself that Will was there. Nothing bad had happened to him, he was alright, alive, in Mike’s arms. 

They stayed like that for a long time, squeezing one another, and reassuring themselves that they were okay, they were alright, not letting go for even one moment, just holding on. 

“I’m sorry, I should have told you guys”, Will couldn’t help but apologise, knowing that all of this could have been avoided had he just confided in all of them. 

Mike sighed, “It can’t be helped now. What’s done is done, but please, never do that to me again. I thought my heart was going to go straight out of my chest.”

“I won’t, I promise.”

“Okay.”

It took them a while to let go of one another, still holding on tightly, but they knew they had to go back, not wanting to worry the others more than they had already been. 

Before they started to make their way back to the quarry, Mike took Wills hand in his, entwining their fingers and walking close to him, a small smile on both of their faces.

**Author's Note:**

> and.... i'm out now.


End file.
